Chapter 268: Authority Under the Blade

"Ow, mother of mine, you were eating people alive last night. Tonight you go to Hu Men Lou to find a Hu girl. I'm not waiting on you."

The next morning, as she got dressed, Ana Ye complained to Fang Chongyong beside her.

Last night she had been tormented by her man until she nearly fell apart. She cried and screamed and begged for mercy, but he would not stop, until finally her mind went completely blank and she let him do as he pleased.

Afterwards, exhausted, she fell into a deep sleep. When she woke up it was already broad daylight, and her body bore all kinds of indescribable marks.

Fang Chongyong did not reply. He pulled on a hemp cloth shirt with patches on it. Combined with his dark, muscular build, he looked very much like a farmer's son from some village in Hexi, just back from the fields.

"Alang, why are you dressed like this?"

Ana Ye asked, her face full of bewilderment.

Fang Chongyong was indeed usually quite low-key, but judging by his clothing and adornments alone, any outsider could tell at a glance that he was no ordinary person.

After all, the Tang bureaucracy had strict requirements for how officials should dress and what ornaments they should wear. No matter how reluctant Fang Chongyong was, he could not simply go his own way.

But now, not only was Fang Chongyong wearing a plain white hemp robe, he had also put on a dowdy grey soft cap, its material and style utterly ordinary. He looked even more like a small farmer carrying local produce from his fields to sell at the market in Wuwei City.

People dressed like this in Liangzhou—if not unique, they were all over the streets.

"Wearing brocade and fine garments, holding the power of life and death in your hands, reciting elegant verses from your lips, cradling a peerless beauty in your arms—this is what it means to be powerful and noble.

I may not be able to avoid the others, but putting on a farmer's son's clothes makes the stench of privilege on me a bit fainter."

Fang Chongyong sighed with emotion, then took out a drab grey robe that, judging by its style, seemed suitable for either men or women. He tossed it into Ana Ye's arms and said, "Hurry up and put it on. Come with me to the market."

"What are we going to the market for?"

Ana Ye asked curiously.

Last night they had been lost in revelry and did not sleep until very late. Today she just wanted to laze in bed and go nowhere.

"What else? To witness the martial might of our great Tang army."

Fang Chongyong said with a mocking tone, delivering a jab.

Ana Ye did not waste words either. She nimbly put on the robe and donned a veiled hat to conceal her peerless beauty. The two of them left the rear courtyard of the Hexi Jiedushi's office together. When they reached the gate, they saw Cen Shen and the others already waiting for some time.

Behind Cen Shen stood several hundred soldiers of the Red Water Army, gleaming in polished armor, armed to the teeth. The bright armor gleamed imposingly in the sunlight, dazzling to the eye and full of oppressive presence. They escorted dozens of empty flatbed carts, one of which carried several black wooden boxes.

Seeing Fang Chongyong's such low-key attire, Cen Shen was first startled, then bowed with hands clasped in salute and said, "Jiedushi, we are ready. Shall we set out for the market now?"

"Move out! First to Hu Men Lou!"

Fang Chongyong waved his hand broadly and said in a calm voice, his emotions unreadable.

"Yes, sir!"

Cen Shen went off to carry out the order, but Fang Chongyong did not stay with the column. Instead, he took Ana Ye and followed far behind, keeping a considerable distance and not walking together with Cen Shen and his men.

"Alang, why aren't we walking with the main group?

It looks so impressive from a distance!"

Ana Ye leaned close and asked in a low voice.

"I won't say for now. You'll understand in a bit."

Fang Chongyong explained dismissively.

Soon, this column of several hundred men arrived before Hu Men Lou. Cen Shen came over to ask for instructions. Fang Chongyong said nothing, only waved his hand lightly. So Cen Shen led dozens of soldiers and stormed aggressively into Hu Men Lou.

Then came a cacophony of cursing and brawling, audible even from far away.

Outsiders could easily imagine the chaos of chickens flying and dogs jumping inside Hu Men Lou.

Before long, Cen Shen emerged from Hu Men Lou with a dark expression. Behind him, soldiers carried stack after stack of silk bolts out from within. Then Yang Yan, who had been invisible the whole time, produced an account book from his robe and began writing something in it.

Afterward, he opened that black wooden box and, under the Hu Men Lou boss's furious, claw-wielding frenzy, calmly handed the other party several finely printed jiaozi. Then the main column marched off grandly, heading precisely toward the only large-scale market in Wuwei City.

That place was packed with fat... Hu merchants.

Ana Ye's small mouth formed an "O" shape, finding it hard to believe that Fang Chongyong would use such a crude method to promote the circulation of jiaozi.

She had also fantasized about what it would look like when the locals of Liangzhou used jiaozi instead of silk bolts, and had wondered what clever method the ever-resourceful Fang Chongyong would employ to make the endless stream of merchants here willingly accept jiaozi.

She never expected Fang Chongyong's method to be so simple and brutal, without the slightest hypocritical pretense.

Damn it, it was outright robbery!

Just then, the luckless Hu Men Lou manager spotted Fang Chongyong from afar. He scurried over in a hurry, drenched in sweat, and complained with lingering panic, "Jiedushi Fang, about exchanging jiaozi for silk bolts, do you think perhaps..."

"You can exchange it back in a month. What are you panicking for?

In the future, the five prefectures of Hexi, and even as far as Chang'an, Luoyang, Yangzhou, and Chengdu, will all use jiaozi. Will you use it then or not?"

Fang Chongyong scolded coldly, expressionless.

"What Jiedushi Fang says is true..."

The Hu Men Lou manager said sheepishly, and had no choice but to slink back to his own tavern to attend to customers, not daring to utter a peep.

"Alang, what you're doing is plain robbery."

Ana Ye suppressed her inner astonishment and muttered under her breath.

"Wrong. It's better than robbery.

Many times, when those powerful people above direct their underlings to handle matters, they don't care about looking dignified while doing it.

Whatever method is fastest, easiest, and most effective, that's what they'll do.

Look, I could have just robbed him outright, but in the end I still left behind a jiaozi that can be used for trade. Isn't that dignified enough?

I myself am nothing but a bandit bully dressed in official robes. Even you were seized by my power and influence.

Otherwise, to get my hands on you, I'd have had to rob without any regard for appearances, just like those young scions of the five mausoleums of Chang'an.

So then, don't harbor any illusions about yourself being a sage or a good person. Everything I do is merely to scrape together a living in this world."

Fang Chongyong folded his arms, watched the column receding into the distance ahead, and said with a long sigh.

"Alang doesn't need to speak of yourself like that. It's not as if I was forced by you."

Ana Ye retorted, but saw Fang Chongyong wave his hand, signaling her to stop talking nonsense.

"Let's go. Now let's go take a look at the market."

Fang Chongyong pointed at the main force that had already marched far ahead and spoke.

……

Fang Chongyong's main battleground for promoting jiaozi was the largest market within Liangzhou City, also the largest in the Hexi region. The Chishui Army deployed several thousand men to seal off the seven districts that made up Liangzhou City. Every city gate had inspectors.

Also sealed off were the "wild markets" near the city gates.

Fang Chongyong's orders were: silk measuring five bolts or more was absolutely not permitted to leave Liangzhou, and had to be exchanged for jiaozi!

Each person could carry at most four bolts of silk out. This tactic was called "catching fish with a large-mesh net."

First, bulk silk was confiscated, so that no large quantities of silk would circulate in the market as a medium of trade.

After some time, one-bolt jiaozi notes would be issued as a supplement to the existing circulating currency, plugging the last loophole.

In the markets of Liangzhou City, soldiers of the Chishui Army, carrying gleaming horizontal swords, searched every shop house by house. Wherever there was silk, it was all forcibly confiscated and exchanged for an equivalent amount of jiaozi.

Whether foreign merchants or Han merchants, all were treated equally.

From the moment Cen Shen led the soldiers into the market to begin the "confiscation operation," the market instantly became a chaotic uproar.

There were those who wailed, those who brawled, and those who cursed. Unfortunately, the Chishui Army had already blocked the market's several gates so tightly that not even a fly could escape. Those merchants who in ordinary days would spend fortunes at the Hua Men Lou, the vast majority could only watch helplessly as Cen Shen led men to take away their silks.

"Alang, compared to these people's methods of seizing silk, what you put me through in bed last night could be called gentle as water."

Anaye leaned close to Fang Chongyong's ear and complained in a low voice.

The government's manner of eating was not merely ugly!

She truly had not expected that Fang Chongyong's methods for promoting jiaozi would be this heavy-handed. There were even people who refused to exchange and called on their underlings to resist, only to be hacked to death by the Tang soldiers' blades!

Fang Chongyong, expressionless, watched coldly as Cen Shen and the others, under the protection of the Chishui Army, carried out the forced exchange of jiaozi.

The wailing, cursing, and even killings all became mere backdrop.

Fang Chongyong did not believe that explaining the benefits of jiaozi to the merchants here in Hexi would make them willingly trade in their silks. The issuance of paper currency ultimately relied on institutional regulations and violence to sustain it.

Since that was the case, it was better to be direct and let the blade do the talking. At least it guaranteed efficiency first.

If a person held only worthless paper, then they would certainly hope that others also had this worthless paper, so they would not be the lonely sole holder.

If everyone had worthless paper in hand, then the worthless paper would no longer be "worthless paper" but hard currency that everyone recognized.

The essence of currency was, in the end, merely credit.

And the essence of credit was authority, and authority needed to be maintained with sharp blades. Without the guarantee of force, there was no so-called credit.

The chaotic market gradually quieted down. Those merchants who had been forcibly stripped of their silk watched with schadenfreude as Cen Shen and his men put blades to other merchants' necks and seized the silk from their hands.

Everyone seemed to slowly resign themselves to fate, deceiving themselves into believing the government's promise that "silk can be redeemed after one month." Cen Shen directed the men of the Chishui Army to the storehouses, carrying out the silk stored there and loading it onto carts that had been prepared in advance.

Seeing this scene, Fang Chongyong called over Yang Yan, who was keeping accounts nearby, and gave him face-to-face instructions, saying:

"In the short term, the price of silk is bound to surge. There will certainly be many people trading silk at high prices with jiaozi in the black market, likely all selling to foreign merchants from the Western Regions. Because the locals of Liangzhou actually do not particularly like wearing silk garments.

Tomorrow, take men and open a shop selling silk next to the prefectural office. Do not accept jiaozi; only accept high-priced barter.

As for cracking down on black market trading, you need not worry about that."

Fang Chongyong said with a cold sneer.

Within one month, he would absolutely not allow jiaozi to flow back to the jiaozi shop. If they wanted silk, they had to bring real goods in exchange. In the future, silk trade with the Western Regions would be dominated by government-led bulk commodities, driving small traders out of the market.

Want silk? That was fine too—high-priced barter! Those willing to take a loss were welcome; Fang Chongyong was very much in favor of this.

In fact, government-led silk trade was something the Tang government had been pursuing ever since the founding of the dynasty over a hundred years ago.

It was only that policies from above met countermeasures from below, and the results were not very good. Controlling the orderly export of silk was itself one of the Tang's national policies. From Taizong onward, all emperors had been highly consistent in this regard.

Fang Chongyong's move was, in effect, incorporating a planned economy into monetary policy, going one step further on the foundation of continuing the Tang's national policy.

"What Jiedushi Fang says is absolutely right. The business of silk and silk fabrics should be controlled in the hands of the government. Letting these silks circulate and wear away in the market is truly a great pity."

Yang Yan said with no small emotion.

Fang Chongyong's methods—only those who understood money could grasp the subtleties within. Those who did not understand, no matter how much was said, it was like playing the lute to a cow.

"Mm, go. Today, you must take away all the silk in the market and exchange it for jiaozi."

Fang Chongyong nodded slightly and spoke, gesturing for Yang Yan to go handle the matter.

Liangzhou and Shazhou both carried out the forced exchange of jiaozi simultaneously today. The border armies began sealing off the various passes, strictly controlling the outflow of silk. The three prefectures in the middle of the Hexi Corridor—Ganzhou, Suzhou, and Guazhou—would proceed in sequence starting tomorrow.

In every prefecture, on the very day silk was confiscated, a jiaozi shop was simultaneously established at the prefectural seat, and jiaozi was issued, rolling out the jiaozi exchange business.

Fang Chongyong needed one month to observe the circulation of jiaozi in the Hexi Corridor. If things went smoothly, then one month later he would open jiaozi savings and lending services, gradually expanding M1 currency into M2 currency.

The single greatest favorable condition for issuing jiaozi in the Hexi Corridor was that locals hardly wore silk. Even those who did were an extremely small minority of powerful and influential people, a very low proportion of the population—far less than in the Guanzhong and Central Plains regions.

The greatest use of silk here was to trade for goods from the Western Regions, serving as hard currency for foreign merchants to carry away.

The five Hexi prefectures between the early Tang and the High Tang, and the Western Xia of the two Song dynasties, were in essence armed tollbooths at key nodes of the Silk Road!

Fang Chongyong's point of entry was chosen with exceptional cleverness. Yang Yan understood this very well in his heart, and was also full of admiration.

Of course, an ordinary person like Anaye found it somewhat incomprehensible, but that could not be helped. Ordinary people's understanding of national policy lagged behind; this was true in any era.

"Alang, if you were wearing the Jiedushi's official robe today, would those merchants beat you to death?"

Anaye pointed at a merchant who was struggling with the Chishui Army soldiers and asked in a low voice.

"That would not happen. The merchants do not have that much nerve. But having a few eggs, fruits, or stones thrown at you by the locals would probably be unavoidable."

Fang Chongyong looked around and said, somewhat guiltily.

Anaye nodded thoughtfully. Today's brutal scene had truly broadened her horizons, letting her know just how dark this world was.

Those with power and influence could do as they pleased.

Fang Chongyong led Anaye to the drum tower where the market bell was struck, standing from dawn until the sun set. Only when the merchants in the market departed as if mourning their parents did the Hexi Jiedushi let out a long breath.

At this moment, he gazed afar from the drum tower toward the direction beyond the city. At the edge of his vision, yellow sand stretched like a sea and the setting sun was like blood, a sight that looked desolate and tragic.

Fang Chongyong felt an indescribable weariness in his heart.

The Chishui Army soldiers enforced the law strictly and mercilessly today, not because they were loyal to Fang Chongyong, nor because they obeyed the Jiedushi's military orders unconditionally—at least, those were not the main reasons.

The key to this matter was: the Chishui Army soldiers had been told that in the future, the court's spring and winter clothing allowances would no longer be issued as silk, but would be replaced with jiaozi. The provisions previously issued would remain unchanged.

Therefore, these people's confiscation of others' silk is actually also for their own benefit. For the Red Water Army's soldiers, compared to causing trouble over the court using jiaozi as military pay, extorting local merchants is clearly more cost-effective and lower risk.

In other words, if jiaozi becomes worthless paper in the future, then the jiaozi received by the Red Water Army soldiers will also be worthless.

Conversely, if jiaozi circulates smoothly in Hexi, then the Red Water Army soldiers will also enjoy more benefits. Because after switching to jiaozi, assuming it can be exchanged in full, they are actually getting a raise.

How these fully armed soldiers should choose is actually obvious.

This is also one of the 'prescriptions' Fang Chongyong proposed for the court's unpaid wages.

First solve liquidity, then solve inflation!

Whether jiaozi can circulate smoothly concerns the vital interests of the soldiers in the army. Whoever obstructs this is opposing those fully armed soldiers, so it's no surprise that the Red Water Army troops are watching those crafty merchants like thieves.

The pawn shops opened almost simultaneously in Liangzhou City likewise serve as an important auxiliary means for circulating jiaozi and collecting goods.

If the Tang army's operations in the Western Regions are like a sword sweeping away bandits, then the smooth issuance and circulation of jiaozi is the hilt used to forge that sword.

The more handy the hilt in hand, the more freely Fang Chongyong can wield it when campaigning in the Western Regions.

"Ah Lang, what are you thinking about?"

Anaya saw Fang Chongyong spacing out, tugged his sleeve, and asked.

"Do you think I'm a good person?"

Fang Chongyong smiled and asked, without answering Anaya's question.

"Not in bed, but after getting up."

Anaya gave a sly smile.

"You know nothing; even after getting up I can still be a bad person."

Fang Chongyong waved his hand indifferently, went downstairs, and came to the market where only Cen Shen and others remained. Usually orderly and lively, the market now looked as if it had been ransacked by bandits, not only in disarray but also with mysterious dried bloodstains on the ground.

"Return to the government office to tally the collected silk and register it."

Fang Chongyong gave Cen Shen an order, then without looking back led Anaya away from the market.

At this moment no one expected that a grand new era would quietly begin, its curtain pulled open by someone.

(End of chapter)